I admit to getting a little annoyed with Gavin and Trevor on 247 last week when they dismissed the Next 10” Tablet out of hand and called it “junk” and “garbage” without even using it. All I could see was a very low priced Tablet with good specifications for the price and a device that would suit many people who do not need to spend +£400 on an iPad.
The next day a plain white box arrived with the Next 10” Tablet inside for review and within an hour £180 seemed somewhat expensive.
The packaging is sparse and all you get is an AC charger besides the Tablet, but this is not something that normally bothers me. Android is very much a wireless system so no USB cable is needed and the microSD card slot takes care of getting media onto the device.
Build Quality
The Tablet is light and is without doubt based on the iPad design, but that is where the similarity ends. The iPad is solid and the screen looks and feels great; the Next Tablet feels hollow and tapping the screen is akin to pushing your finger onto a wobbly piece of plastic, a very thin piece of plastic at that. The silver plastic around the edge shows signs of very poor workmanship and there are many rough edges that show the lack of effort put into constructing it. Even worse, if I lift it up with one hand it creaks. I was amazed that it did this, but it feels as if the screen is going to lift off from the casing. The build quality is quite frankly appalling in every single way.
General Performance
If this were a car it would be roughly in the category of a Robin Reliant from a couple of decades ago. It is so slow that you can actually see what it is doing while it opens the app you have pressed; when you tap an icon, it goes away, flashes up the main home screen, goes back to the app for a second or two and then eventually the app opens. Add to this the fact that roughly one in three apps have crashed for me so far with ‘unexpected error’ messages and the fact that typing on it is so unresponsive thanks to the lack of power that you may as well not bother.
Go to YouTube and try to play a video- you get an error page every time. Go to any website and you will be presented with the mobile version or an ever lasting wait for the desktop version to open up if no mobile version is available. Every screen scroll is juddery and slow, every screen tap is imprecise and slow to react and everything else about the general performance is like the very first versions of Windows Mobile (Pocket PC). One word? Crap.
Software
The software setup is sparse in comparison to the smartphone versions of Android that Samsung, HTC and others like to laden down with extras. The extras on offer here are generally of poor quality and add little to the overall experience. There is no Android Market, but in place of it an icon named ‘Slide SAM 3.5’ where you will find a large(ish) selection of games and apps to download. I downloaded 5 and once they all finished downloading, as was confirmed by pulling down the status bar from the top, I went to find them. A look around the home screens brought up nothing so I went to settings and chose the ‘Manage Applications’ option. Apparently I had no extra apps installed- this happened over and over again and I still have nothing installed.
Oh well, at least I could play with the OfficeSuite app instead- such a shame it’s the Chinese version! I suspect that no-one has even checked this device for consistency and that no-one involved with the project cared anyway.
Screen
The screen looks OK even though the resolution seems rather elongated at WXGA resolution, but the moment to move it from the perfect angle the text and images become washed out. I’m not even going to talk about its performance outdoors.
Battery
30 minutes of web browsing on first charge. 30 minutes of web browsing on second charge.
Expansion
The inclusion of an 8GB microSD is a nice touch. I loaded up some videos and music on it via my Mac and then it was not recognised again until I formatted it. I tried again and the same thing happened.
Conclusion
I give up. I simply cannot be bothered to write anything else about what has to be the worst product I have ever had the misfortune to review. It is simply terrible on every level and gets nowhere near its budget price of £180 as far as value is concerned. It can’t get near because it not only doesn’t work very well, it barely works at all. It is a sub-standard, low rent, cheap piece of nonsense which should not be sold by such a well known company.
All this product does is devalue Android as a platform and I strongly urge you to NOT even consider buying one. Don’t even look at one- it’s DREADFUL!
Available from Next for £180 (£1.80 would be overcharging by £1 in my opinion).
Shocking that a store like Next sell such poor quality goods. Maybe one day sub £200.
Perhaps it will be reduced to £1 in the January sales. If not I guess we’ll have to wait for M&S to release a tablet. I can almost hear the marketing line. ‘This is not just a tablet: this is an M&S luxury tablet with capacitive screen, 18 hours battery life, all dressed up in a sultry black case.’
It’s a shame Carlsberg don’t do tablets. If they did they’d probably be the best in the world.
One of your best reviews Shaun, that’s for sure
So… you didn’t fancy the device? mmmm…
no more puns, please!
This is much worse than I expected, I assumed that the £180 would bring you less Money and perhaps a slightly slower processor. haven’t seen the specs, but the performance described suggests it’s 300 or 400 mhz maximum?!
They’ll probably shift a few initially at that price, but I wonder what the market fallout will be :/
Any chance you got an early (pre-release) model?
Wow, shockingly bad – they’ll be getting a lot of returns. This reflects badly on Android too, most consumers won’t have a clue why it’s so crap and may well think it’s the OS.
“Any chance you got an early (pre-release) model?”
No, it’s a full retail device. Refund given by Next and courier picking it up tomorrow. If it worked, it would have been great for my wife, but she hates it more than me.
Thanks for the review. I’d been searching for one since I heard of its release a couple of weeks ago. When I first saw it on their website, I couldn’t beleive that they weren’t making more of a song and dance about it (as, on the face of it, £180 for an iPad clone seems amazing) but I think you’ve just explained the reason why.
This product reflects poorly on everyone and everything involved – Next, the OEM manufacturer, Android and, yes, even Google.
Products like this are deliberate attempts to hoodwink and cheat people.
Hi,
Interesting…I have one of these on order but was told today they’re on 2-3 week back order. May have to cancel it completely.
Apparently these are the same as the Elonex and Zenithink tablets, have you tried either of these? They’re hacking the OS left right and centre on XDA forums, and people seem to have taken to them.
There are a whole host of new tablets coming out over the next few months though so I think I’ll wait and see what else pops up. One has an NVidia graphics card so that sounds good to me.
C ;D
Wow – sounds even worse than my Lifedrive years ago (my personal favorite worst mobile device).
Samsung’s Galaxy tablet sounds like it’s at least close to the iPad in build quality, but it’s even higher priced?!
We were going to get an Android tablet just to see how that platform plays out, but I think we’ll wait a bit and see what’s going to be on the menu in Jan (after the iPad 2 comes out).
Sounds very much like the 7″ tablet I have sitting next to me, which I’ve seen marketted under various names/guises including “aPad”. Resistive touchscreens on any devices that a) has a screen larger than 3″ and b) requires scrolling are (mostly) awful. They remind me of the early touchscreens on Palm Pilots. I suspect somebody at purchasing in Next will be updating their CV in the next couple of weeks. It’s one thing to buy a cheap tablet off eBay for testing, it’s another to buy it from a major retailer.
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Nice review, and when i saw Next were selling this, it’s exactly what i expect to be honest!
One word of advice though….the things that you installed/downloaded will be found in the screen that you can slide across (from the right or bottom depending on orientation) just like any other Android OS (which this runs on judging from your screenshots)
How does this reflect badly on google and android???
Thats akin to saying a terrible driver reflects badly on the car manufacturer whos car he drives…
The terrible product has nothing to do with android. Android is open source, so anyone can do what they like with it. The blame is purely on the device manufacturer.
The above post wasn’t meant to be disrespectful, but to be informative.
“One word of advice though….the things that you installed/downloaded will be found in the screen that you can slide across (from the right or bottom depending on orientation) just like any other Android OS (which this runs on judging from your screenshots”
I checked this and the apps were not even in the settings to remove- they just did not install at all.
“How does this reflect badly on google and android???”
Android is a brand and if someone uses this and recognise the Android OS when buying a new phone, it could put them off. That’s what I mean- it could harm the overall image of Android if too many sub-standard tablets are released like this one.
Thanks for this as I was interested in this (and similar devices) and your review has helped me to decide to wait a while until some reputable manafacturers come to the party.
As regards damaging Android/Google, luckily these and similar devices are quite hard to track down at the minute, other than on ebay.. the ‘man in the street’ is unlikely to even know of the concept of the android tablet yet.. and as Next don’t seem (sensibly) to be pushing this one too hard, these devices wont make iit into the mainstream for a while yet..
Shaun said: “If it worked, it would have been great for my wife, but she hates it more than me.”
This is one of those times when it behooves a writer to know the difference between “I” and “me”! (Or does your wife really hate you?)
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Ha! Some element of truth in what you say there. Apologies for the error.
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I own a Zenithink ZT180 (rebadged here by NEXT) and quite frankly I was shocked at a high-street fashion retailer selling this to an unsuspecting public.
Personally I’m delighted with what I’ve got, once tweaked up it reads pdf documents in a satisfactory way, surfs the web and several other things I expected of it. Thing is I’m a bit of a geek who gets a buzz out of hacking. I’m not the man or woman in the street expecting an iPad for less than 200 quid. They’re a strange breed, they expect things to do what they say on the box.
Note to buyer:
NEXT ≠ Dealextreme
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Just been through a nightmare attempting to order one. Cancelled as a result of the shambolic horror story that is Next online ordering and delivery….now im glad i did. Tablet sounds desperate… I really hope Next management get a kicking for this, its nothing more than an attempt to rob people of a couple of hundred quid for rubbish. Shame on Next
I bought an iPad. Sure, it’s expensive and the actual components in it don’t really add up to the selling price. But when you actually use it…the price does make sense. It just works. Or rather, it doesn’t just work; it works absolutely fabulously and has a battery life of about 10 hours which I’ve found to be accurate. The screen is effortlessly responsive and everything about it is intuitive and works just as you’d expect. My only grips, and it’s a common one, is lack of Flash support. But as developers move over to HTML5 (many YouTube vids already this format) I suspect that will become less and less of an issue. Compared to the iPad, Next’s offering sounds more like a half chewed, partly digested Bob Martin tablet than a real, grown up computer tablet.
Thank you for persuading me not to buy 1. I was thinking of buying 1 but now, not a chance in hell, thank you for saving me £180. Laurie
bought 2 one works fine other sent back due to above problems. The firmware was not the same so suspect software problem. One that works is good value and worth the money. Elonex are releasing software upgrade in few weeks to address problems. Dont write this device off yet.
Despite the universally poor reviews I still gave it a punt. I was prepared for a truly awful machine and was almost pleasantly surprised. If you consider it to be an Ipad like device you will be horribly disappointed. If on the other hand you see it as a device costing less than £150 (ext vat & with the 8Gig card @ ~£12) then it does make some sense. As a developer I need a variety of different devices and OSs to compare performance and consistency with browser based apps we develop. This fits the bill well for that (I admit, limited) roll. The poor Wi-Fi range and the short battery life are a nuisance to say the least. The VPN clients work well and so far the browser has not shown up any issues with some very complex Javascript – Getting the mobile version of commercial sites is not a problem in our situation (though it would certainly be limiting for others). I have loaded an RDP client which in conjunction with the VPN allows control of Windows desktops without issue. USB Keyboards, Mice, RFID readers and Barcode readers all work fine so despite its many failings it is proving useful. If updated software does become available and access to the Android app store is enabled then I can see this device having a bit of a life.
I was looking to purchase this for my daughter as a Christmas present, ater reading the above and not wanting an unhappy little girl on christmas day can any recomend a tablet / note book that will be good for a 9yr old. Mainly using for browsing if she wants store films pics ect not a biggy as she can share my harddrive. Idealy sub £200
Any thoughts greatfuly receieved
http://www.pda-247.com/wordpress/2010/10/huawei-s7-android-tablet-review-part-two/
I too had a device like this called the Zenithink ZT180 and have sent it back for a refund from the supplier. a total load of tack. ok for the price, compared to the ipad, i had to give it a go, after all, it could have been good but all i got was to be able to internet browse which i can do on my other gadgets i have. the scroll up nd down really wound me up, theres no control over it or very little.
apps that should be pre-installed, wasn’t and i couldnt work out how to put music or pics on it.
very unhappy with it so sent it back.
i know apples ipad is dear but i think to have something thAt works. you have to bite the bullet and pay or just dont have one.
ANDY.B
As you (might) be aware, this was created by Nokia, running Nokia software, also I do own one of these devices and I have got to say I have yet to find a faulty, it works fine, relatively quick and great for browsing the web, therefore I really could not disagree more with this review, Next released a statement: ‘We have been working hard alongside Nokia, to produce the best, most cost effective tablet pc for £180, obviously the first few were testers and we have now released later models that are up to scratch’ guess I just got a later model? or luck maybe.
Sorry, but this was not built by Nokia and it definitely does not run Nokia software- it runs Android by Google. It runs it very badly.
ermm, off the top of my head I believe it runs ARM? ARM was founded by Nokia, and I do realise it runs Android but the processor is ARM.
ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM, NASDAQ: ARMH) is a British technology company headquartered in Cambridge, England, UK. The company is best known for its processors, although it also designs, licenses and sells software development tools under the RealView and KEIL brands, systems and platforms, system-on-a-chip infrastructure and software. It is probably the best-known of the Silicon Fen companies. The company was founded as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and VLSI Technology (as Advanced RISC Machines), intended to further the development of the Acorn RISC Machine’s RISC chip, which was originally used in the Acorn Archimedes and is now the processing core for many custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
I have just bought one of these, and im guessing they must have updated the software on it because its been brilliant so far! the screen is responsive and quick,nice and bright n clear, it DOES now have the Android market place on it (the proper one), i agree that the build is slightly flimsy and plasticky, and the battery life aint great, but other than that its been excellent value for the money! Its managed to play any vid files ive chucked at it so far (mkv avi mpeg etc) all have looked great on the screen no juddering or anything, and i’ve had no trouble viewing youtube vids on it. and so far all apps have installed and run perfectly. maybe all the negative reviews has had an effect coz as i said its been brilliant so far for me?
A friend of mine bought one last week and has all of the problems described in the review- he sent it straight back.
Hi
We tried one and sent it straight back presuming it was faulty, ordered another and it was as bad. Totally useless and agree with the reviewer as to how bad it actually is.
Don’t go there! it really is junk.
Well – Updated firmware on the original tablet – great improvement but only 12 minutes battery life ! so sent it back. Replacement arrived with latest firmware – Device now seems to behave beautifully !! Registration of screen accurate, Wireless sensitivity improved, English apps, still got a ‘full’ battery after > 1Hr, rotation sensitivity improved. This is what it should have been like
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Got one for my daughters birthday thinking it would be the same idea as my phone(dell streak) it runs on android software but thats were it ends. It has a shit app market whch is basically chinese. Do not buy I would rather use an atari 2600